Journal of Marketing Management, 1994, 10, 311-324

Mark Gabbott and Gillian Hogg Department of Marketing, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK

Consumer Behaviour and Services: A Review This article reviews the current literature in the fields of consumer behaviour and the marketing of services in order to examine the main issues facing the consumer in purchasing services, as opposed to goods. Five distinguishing characteristics of services are discussed and the implications of these for the consumers are placed within the information processing model of consumer behaviour theory. The article suggests that there are particular problems for consumers in acquiring effective information regarding services, making comparisons on the basis of that information and subsequently evaluating the service encounter. It is our contention that unless consumer responses to the particular problems associated with services are clarified, service marketing may be in danger of pursuing provider-orientated solutions rather than understanding the actual nature of the consumer decision process when purchasing services.

Introduction Since the early work of Judd (1964), Rathwell (1966) and Levitt (1972) there has been increasing attention paid to the marketing of services. This interest has been motivated by a recognition of the importance of the "services sector" and a need to understand the problems of marketing services more explicitly. Early work by Sasser et al. (1978) provided a clear articulation of the characterisdcs of services which distinguished them from goods and these provided an agenda for considering how the nature of services marketing differed from that of goods, as well as highlighdng some of the problems associated with adopting goods marketing terminology and concepts. The dominant feature of the existing literature on the markedng of services is its implicit management orientation, a concentration on how services are, or should be, marketed. This approach makes a fundamental assumpdon which this ardcle seeks to challenge, specifically that consumer behaviour is unaffected by the nature of the product. While research into the consumpfion of services is sparse, this literature has already established a number of areas where the characteristics of services make accepted forms of consumer behaviour problematic. This article reviews the current services and consumer behaviour literature in order to clarify the main issues for consumers in obtaining information about services, comparing alternative service provision and evaluating the service encounter. Until the mid-1980s the dominant theoretical paradigm in consumer behaviour was the information processing approach. More recently, experiential and behavioural perspectives have been recognized as providing realisdc alternatives to the information processing approach. While these perspectives may provide a means to Correspondence should be addressed to: Dr Mark Gabbott and Ms Gillian Hogg, Department of Marketing, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK. 0267-257X/94/040311 + 14 $08.00/0

© 1994 The Dryden Press

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amplify our understanding of consumer behaviour and services, the discussion in this article will take place using the information processing model in order to provide a means to synthesize service marketing and consumer behaviour literatures. This analysis highlights a number of aspects of consumer behaviour which need to be considered by service marketers.

Products, Goods and Services As a first stage it is necessary to make a distinction between products, goods and services. Marketing theory has been dominated by concepts and terminology derived from the marketing of goods. This orientation has endured despite a recognition that services have a number of unique characteristics. In as much as goods and services both provide benefits and customer satisfaction, they have both been described as products in the widest sense of the word (Cowell 1991; Enis and Reoring 1981) which has allowed services literature to develop based upon a sound marketing literature. However there has also been a tendency to use the terms "goods" and "products" inter-changeably with little attention paid to the service dimension which may have far-reaching implications for marketers. If it is accepted that services do have distinguishing characteristics, such as those identified by Lovelock (1981) and Booms and Bitner (1981) for example, then it is necessary to restate and understand the differences between a product, which can include both a good and service element, and a good which is defined purely in terms of its physical properties. Most definitions of services are still framed in terms of differences with goods. The distinction is provided on the basis of a comparison of the dominant characteristics of each (Schifman and Kanuk 1991; Regan 1963; and Blois 1974). However, as Foxall (1985) points out, if services are seen not as a separate entity but only as a different type of product, the differences identified between goods and services are not fundamental but merely classificatory. What is needed is an appreciation of the dimensions of services which place different demands on both the purchaser and the provider. As a way of highlighting the inadequacy of discriminating between goods and services Levitt (1972) argues that there is no such thing as a service industry, only industries where service components are greater. The distinction is between suppliers where the core of what they are selling is a service and suppliers that use a service element associated with a goods element as a competitive advantage, a theme developed by Gronroos (1978). The corollary of this argument is that all purchases of goods involve an element of service. Shostack (1977) argues that there are very few "pure" products or services and describes a product continuum from tangible dominant goods to intangible dominant services. However even within this approach there is a service element which is still indistinct from the good. Kotler (1991) provides structure to the continuum by identifying four distinct categories of offer: purely tangible goods, tangible goods with accompanying services, a major service with accompanying goods and services and pure services. A common feature of these approaches is a recognition that services have a number of distinguishing characteristics. These characteristics have been identifled as; intangibility, inseparability, heterogeneity, perishability and ownership (Sasser et al. 1978; Shostack 1977; Gronroos 1978).

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Service Characteristics Intangibility is one of the most important characterisdcs of services, they do not have a physical dimension. Often services are described using tangible nouns but this obscures the fundamental nature of the service which remains intangible. Shostack (1987) for instance points out that "airline" means air transportadon, "hotel" means lodging rental. Berry (1980) argues that even although the performance of most services is supported by tangibles the essence of what is purchased is a performance, therefore as McLuhan (1964) points out, it is the process of delivering a service which comprises the product. The implicadon of this argument is that consumers cannot see, touch, hear, taste or smell a service they can only experience the performance of it (Carman and Uhl 1973; Sasser et al. 1978). The second characterisdc of services is the inseparability of the producdon and consumpdon aspects of the transacdon. The service is a performance, in real dme, in which the consumer cooperates with the provider. Bell (1981). According to Thomas (1978) the degree of this involvement is dependent upon the extent to which the service is people-based or equipment-based. The inference of this disdncdon is that peoplebased services tend to be less standardized than equipment-based services or goods producing acdvities. Goods are produced, sold and then consumed, whereas services are sold and then produced and consumed simultaneously (Regan 1963; Cowell 1984). The inseparability of the role of service provider and consumer also refers to the lack of standardization since the consumer can alter both the way in which the service is delivered, as well as what is delivered, which has important implicafions for the process of evaluadon. The heterogeneity of services is also a funcdon of human involvement in the delivery and consumpdon process. It refers to the fact that services are delivered by individuals to individuals and therefore each service encounter will be different by virtue of the pardcipants or time of performance. As a consequence each consumer is likely to receive a different service experience. The perishability of services describes the real dme nature of the product. Services cannot be stored unlike goods and the absence of the ability to build and maintain stocks of the product means that fiuctuations in demand cannot be accommodated in the same way as goods, i.e. in periods of excess demand more product cannot be utilized. For the consumer of services the dme at which the consumer chooses to use the service may be critical to its performance and therefore the consumers experience. Kelley et al. (1990) make the observadon that consumpdon is inextricably linked to the presence of other consumers and their presence can infiuence the service outcome. To the above characteristics of services, Judd (1964), Wyckham et al. (1975) and Kotler (1982) have idendfied the concept of ownership as a disdnguishing feature of services. With the sale of a good the purchaser generally obtains ownership of it. By contrast in the case of a service the purchaser only has temporary access or use of it: what is owned is the benefit of the service, not the service itself, i.e. in terms of a holiday the consumer has the benefit of the flight, hotel and beach but does not own them. The absence of ownership stresses the finite nature of services for consumers, there is no enduring involvement in the product only in the benefit. These separate characterisdcs which disdnguish a service from a good have formed the basis of most analyses of services markedng. However, very few attempts have been made to consider these characterisdcs together in order to invesdgate their joint effect upon consumers' behaviour. Simply, we know that

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intangibility creates a problem for consumers in evaluation and choice, we also know that heterogeneity presents an impediment to learning and routinizing behaviour but the combined effect of service characteristics are still not clearly understood.

Consumer Behaviour and Services With the developing interest in services and services marketing it might be expected that the consumer behaviour literature would include references to the evaluafion and consumption of intangibles. However there are very few examples of published work which refer explicitly to the consumption characteristics of services. There would appear to be an assumption, consistent with the interchangeability of terminology, that consumer behaviour related to goods is the same as that related to products, i.e. the difference between goods and services is insignificant. In the case of products where the "good" element is dominant this may be a valid assumption, but for products where the dominant characteristic is the service intangibility this assumption denies the significant impact upon consumption behaviour of the characteristics identified above. As a vehicle for examining likely differences in consumer behaviour and services, a simple process model of consumer behaviour will be used, drawn from the dominant information processing perspective. This view implies that consumers first search for information about possible alternatives and attributes, selected alternatives are then compared on the basis of these attributes and once consumption has occurred the product is re-evaluated. Under each of these three process headings the services and consumer behaviour literature will be reviewed in order to provide some indication of the likely consumer responses to the problems presented by services.

Information Search The literature on consumer information activity in relation to goods is large and concentrates upon classifying the various sources of information (e.g. Beales et al. 1981; Engel et al. 1986; Westbrook and Fornell 1979; Fletcher 1987), the ability to assimilate information from these sources (e.g. Jacoby et al. 1974; Miller 1956; Keller and Staelin 1987; Summers 1974; Wilkie 1974; Jacoby 1984; Muller 1984); the motivation for external search behaviour and the extent of that behaviour (e.g. Johnson and Russo 1984; Urbany et al. 1989; Bucklin 1966; Moore and Lehlann 1980). The characteristics of services which we believe place an additional information burden on consumers are associated with information sources used, the nature of information available from each source and the consumers response to that information. Commonly two types of consumer information sources are referred to; internal and external sources. The search of internal sources of information is characterized by Bettman (1979b) as a scan of memory. When faced with a purchase decision consumers first examine memory for information which may be relevant to the decision (Jacoby et al. 1978). This information may be the result of previous experi-

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ences, which constitute a body of knowledge about, or an attitude toward, a product or a product class. If previous service experience is available this is an extremely credible source even if it is recognized that the experiences which comprise this information are event-specific and may not provide any clear indication as to future performance. The work carried out by Murray (1991) provided some support for this and pointed to a preference for internal sources of information in evaluating services. Where information gained from previous experience is not available to consumers, or the information already held is considered insufficient to discriminate between different offerings, then the consumer may be motivated to search for information externally. This external information search implies a conscious recognition of the need for more decision-relevant information. The extent of external search is said to be dependent upon a number of factors, such as product category experience, product complexity or the degree of buyer uncertainty. On each of these dimensions, services are likely to prompt significant external search effort. In itself, this does not indicate any specific differences in the consumption behaviour related to services with that of goods. An alternative approach suggested by Murray (1991) is that in considering the degree of external information search it is inadequate to merely analyse the absolute number of sources used but more productive to assess source effectiveness. The effectiveness of information available from external sources is related to the nature of services. Nelson (1970) identifies experience and search qualities of products where search qualities are those product attributes which can be almost completely determined and evaluated prior to purchase, for example, colour, size, price, etc. Experience qualities are those attributes which cannot be known or assessed prior to purchase but are determined during or after consumption. The more tangible the product the more dominant are the search qualities and the more intangible the less information is available before consumption. Services are therefore high in experience qualities and low in search qualities. The implication for the consumer is that experiential information is perhaps the most difficult to obtain pre-purchase. The only sources of this type of information are pre-purchase trial, observation or reliance upon the experiences of others (Locander and Hermann 1979). Pre-purchase trial is not an option in the case of services since they are produced as they are consumed and they therefore have to be experienced in total before they can be assessed, for instance it is not possible to try a haircut before purchase. Observation is equally unreliable as a source of information since the service is intangible and the participation of any other individual gives no guarantee of a repeated performance. As a consequence a number of authors (e.g. Murray 1991) suggest that consumers look towards personal sources of information. This positions is supported by Zeithaml (1981) who suggests that the need for experience information of the service prompts a reliance upon word-of-mouth sources as they are perceived to be more credible and less biased. This is also consistent with the work of Robertson (1970), Eiglier et al. (1977) and Urbany and Weilbacker (1987) who indicate that word-of-mouth sources are pivotal in relation to services. As a consequence we can say that where service is a dominant element of a product, consumers face a number of problems, primarily in acquiring and using their own knowledge and also that the external environment cannot provide appropriate objective information. The likely response is an increased reliance on personal sources of information.

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Comparison The process of information search leads the consumer to an evoked set of alternatives that will form the basis of comparison and choice. The difficulties of obtaining effective pre-purchase information about services is likely to result in a smaller evoked set in services than goods. Zeithaml (1981) suggests that because of the nature of services and the difficulties in obtaining effective information consumers tend to be more loyal once they have found an acceptable alternative, for instance in the case of professional services like solicitors; indeed, if the consumer has previous experience of a service the evoked set may be as small as one (see Johnston and Bonama 1981). However if the internal information is negative or the consumer does not have experience on which to base the choice then the size of evoked set will be dependent upon the effectiveness of the external information that was available. There are various models of how consumers choose between available alternatives in different situations, such as Bettman (1979a), Grether and Wilde (1984), Wright (1975) and Fletcher and Hastings (1983). The common component of these models is a set of attributes. There are two identifiable problems for consumers in defining attribute sets in relation to services, problems of identifying attributes and problems of making comparisons on the basis of these attributes. All products have attributes or defining characteristics, in the case of goods these attributes are tangible, can be determined in advance of purchase and common to all consumers purchasing the product. By contrast in the case of services the attributes of provision are intangible, cannot be determined in advance of purchase and are not common to all consumers, i.e. the individual consumers' needs are accommodated by their involvement in the service delivery, for example, in the case of hairdressing where the consumer is involved in describing and modifying the service outcome. In the absence of any tangible indications of what the service will be like consumers must use other means of comparing services in the prepurchase phase. Shostack (1977) and Berry (1980) point to the subsequent reliance upon peripheral tangible cues to predict quality. The more intangible dominant the service the fewer clues are likely to be available, Levitt (1981) suggests that in these circumstances it is necessary for consumers to establish metaphors for tangibility or cues that help them to "tangibilize the intangible", in order that they may create a credible expectation. Various authors have pointed to the role of the environment in which the consumption of the service takes place in providing these metaphors or cues such as Bitner (1992) or Lewis (1991). These would include corporate wear, decor, appearance of service providers, standard of equipment or furnishing and all may be used to approximate the missing tangible product information (Gabbott 1991). The key problem for the consumer is idenfifying the cues which will most accurately predict the nature of the service experience. The second issue for consumers is in comparing service alternatives on the basis of common attributes. Services cannot be compared simultaneously, but can only be compared in series, not parallel, i.e. a consumer cannot put two services side by side at any one time. Added to this time dimension is the problem of heterogeneity. The absence of truly common attributes implies that services are non-comparable products. Johnson (1984) suggests that faced with non-comparable product alternatives the consumer will search for the basis of a comparison by moving to more abstract product attributes, e.g. necessity, social status or entertainment value. In the case of services non-comparability is likely to evoke a reverse form of

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abstraction where services are compared on increasingly material or tangible criteria until there is little left to compare other than the service provider as the ultimate physical embodiment of the service. Another characteristic of service dominant products is that some attributes are bargainable in the sense that they are determined between provider and consumer. Brucks and Shurr (1990) define bargaining as a process whereby two or more parties mutually define one or more attribute values for a product. For instance, in the case of insurance services the terms of the offering are negodated before delivery. The bargainable nature of some service attributes serves to emphasize the uncertainty of the comparison process. This factor also has implication for the number of alternatives compared where bargainability reduces the number of alternatives as well as significantly reducing the number of attributes used in the comparison process. Evaluation A critical stage in the consumption process is the evaluation of the product after consumption as a means of building experience and knowledge as well as learning about the product class. Any product is evaluated on the basis of whether it fulfils the pre-determined need and whether the outcome meets the consumer's expectations about how the need should have been fulfilled. In this sense there is a predetermined standard against which to compare the outcome. Several researchers have made a disdnction between objective and perceived quality in evaluating products, e.g. Zeithaml (1988). Objective quality refers to the technical superiority or excellence of a product against measurable and verifiable standards. Garvin (1983) describes this as evaluation based upon amounts of specific attributes or ingredients, for example, weight, colour or size. Perceived quality can be defined as the consumers' judgement about a product's overall excellence or superiority. Quality is defined solely in terms of the consumer's perception which is a much more use-orientated approach to evaluation and is closer to the definition of service quality proposed by Zeithaml et al. (1990) as "meeting or exceeding customer expectations". The determination of satisfacdon or dissatisfaction is therefore on the basis of a comparison between perceived quality and expected quality of the service experience. Parasuraman et al. (1991) suggest that there is a fundamental expectation of a service; which is that it provides what it promises, i.e. accountants produce accurate accounts and dry cleaners produce clean clothes. This fundamental expectation has been described as a reliability dimension of service by Parasuraman et al. (1991) and by Gronroos (1991) as the technical quality dimension. This basic expectation generally relates to the more tangible elements of a product and as such it can be measured by the consumer in a reasonably objective manner. Swan and Comb (1976) make a similar point using the term instrumental performance to describe a minimum level of quality. In the case of goods, what has been received is evident before its performance is evaluated. By comparison services are produced as they are consumed therefore the difference between goods and service elements of a product is that the consumer of a service evaluates how a service is received before it is clear what has been received. Once the service performance is complete it is conceivable that

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safisfaction with how the service was delivered will be reviewed. This makes the process of evaluating performance, i.e. determining satisfacfion or dissatisfacfion much more complex in the case of services. The problem with this approach comes when consumers do not have the knowledge or experience to evaluate what they have received or that their expectations of what they wanted from the service are not clear. Darby and Kami (1973) refer to these as the credence qualities, these are characteristics of a product that the consumer finds difficult to evaluate even after purchase and consumption. In these circumstances how a service was delivered may be used to evaluate what was delivered, this is referred to by Gronroos as the funcfional quality, or by Swan and Comb (1976) as expressive performance. Parasuraman et al. (1991) refer to both as process dimensions and argue that these dimensions are usually evaluated as the service is delivered. Process dimensions have been described as service responsiveness (willingness to help), assurance (knowledge and courtesy of providers), and empathy (the caring individualized relafionship between provider and consumer) and the signs symbols and artifacts of delivery (signposting, decor, personal presentafion) (Zeithaml 1981; Bitner 1992). These dimensions added to the reliability of the delivered service and form five dimensions of service quality identifled by Zeithaml et al. (1990). This research suggests that although reliability ("the what") is important in meeting customer expectations the process dimensions ("the how") are the most important in exceeding customer expectations. The "how" dimensions are almost invariably associated with the individual service provider. In terms of safisfaction, the way in which the consumer parficipates in the service will influence his evaluation of the service received. (Customers may be required to participate in the deflnition and producfion of the service and may therefore feel personally involved in the success or failure of the outcome (Zeithaml 1981). If a consumer cannot or does not clearly articulate or understand their own requirements, or has formed unrealistic expectations of the service then they may feel that some responsibility for the failure was their own. Therefore the process of evaluating services in terms of satisfacfion and dissatisfacfion is a shared responsibility between provider and consumer.

Discussion This article has suggested that acquiring information, choice and the evaluation of services present a number of problems for consumers. These problems are derived from the nature of services in particular their intangibility and their heterogeneity. In the flrst stage of the simple process model, informafion is difflcult to obtain since the service is intangible and there is no objective information that the consumer can obtain other than relying upon personal experience. However, since service experiences vary across consumers and across fime so experience information either from self or others can only be a guide to future performance rather than a predictor. Other informafion gained from search has to be tempered by the evaluation of the source of the informafion. As such informafion effecfiveness for the consumer of services is questionable. The second problem for consumers is in comparing service alternatives. Again intangibility and heterogeneity present the main impediments to the effective assessment of future performance. What is being assessed in the case of a service is

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the perceived benefit from the service rather than the service itself. The consumer is choosing between their own subjective assessments of the likely service outcome. Comparison is hampered further by the heterogeneity of service provision and the difficulties in idendfying or generadng attributes upon which to base a choice. Finally, once the service has been inidated either by purchase, by acceptance or instrucdon there are problems in evaluadng what is being, or what has been provided. In this context the role of expectadons are pivotal. It has been argued that failure to achieve satisfacdon from a service is as much the responsibility of the consumer as the provider in not identifying precise needs, yet it must also be recognized that consumers may not have a precise set of needs to communicate and this is central to the delivery of sadsfacdon and benefit. The description of services as problematic for consumers is a theme which is common across a broad range of literature. Most suggesdons propose markedng responses tackling some of the fundamental characterisdcs of services. These include making services appear less intangible by focusing upon physical dimensions, or less heterogeneous through standardized delivery or by recognizing the importance of word-of-mouth informadon sources using such techniques as personal endorsement. However litde attention has been paid to the likely consumer responses to the problems presented by services.

Responses

It is generally accepted that consumers are uldmately seeking to simplify or roudnize their purchase decisions at the same dme as minimizing the level of risk attached to the outcome. In reladon to goods two key responses have been idendfied: first, the reliance upon product cues which are used to approximate missing information or predict likely outcomes and second, the reliance upon inerda or loyalty built upon sadsfacdon in order to roudnize the consumption decision. However, both these responses need to be examined in the light of the characteristics of services. Exisdng work on product cues associated with goods has tended to concentrate upon the idendficadon of cues used by the consumer. A number of studies have idendfied brand name, origin or price as acfive cues. The basis of this analysis is that goods have a finite number of available attributes which can serve as prepurchase clues for the consumer. In the case of services the range of cues is much wider since they are present in all tangible accompaniments to the service, i.e. provider, artifacts, premises or goods components. If the range of cues available pre-purchase is wider than that associated with goods and the cues are also uniquely associated with each service. The presence of variable cues both within service products and across service products do not provide support for the simplificadon funcdon of cues for the consumer. A second implicit assumpdon associated with product cues is the ability to jusdfy or prove their worth. Since tangible cues vary from provider to provider and form a small part of the service experience, the effecdveness of individual cues is likely to vary from provider to provider. Finally, product cues in relafion to goods are used pre-purchase and their value assessed post-purchase. Where services are concerned the delivery may take place at a different dme, with a different provider, with different tangibles or in a different place to the purchase transacdon. As a result cues used to evaluate a service pre-

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purchase may be different to those used to evaluate during delivery or even after delivery has taken place. The second response of consumers in relafion to goods is brand or product loyalty which is one form of roufinizing purchase behaviour. In the case of services loyalty can only be placed with the provider of the service rather than the service itself, i.e. it is theorefically impossible to obtain the same service from a different provider. Loyalty is built up from a series of successful service encounters with the same provider and the number of consumers with successful encounters builds reputafion. An aspect of loyalty in relafion to services which is different to that of goods is the potenfial to cement a relafionship between customer and provider. We have idenfified above the inability in some circumstances of the consumer to accurately vocalize or idenfify needs and expectafions. Subsequent service encounters allow needs and expectafions of the consumer to be synchronized with the abilities and performance of the provider. This process of repeat purchasing is likely to result in the confinued and increment strengthening of service relafionships where the consumer is able to take full advantage of the potenfial benefits offered. In the case of goods the relafionship is likely to plateau once all benefits have been experienced and may in some circumstances start to decline. It is evident that this confinued relafionship also produces a sense of ownership over the service with consumers referring to "my accountant", "my hairdresser", or "my mechanic". Equally this may have an impact upon attribufion in the case of failure. The amount of investment in the relafionship may lead consumers to rafionalize failures on the basis of "just a bad day", since they have experienced better or that it is their own fault in not correctly communicafing needs. Either way relafionships are likely to be more stable in the case of services than goods.

Conclusion This arficle has invesfigated the implicafions for consumer behaviour presented by services as opposed to goods. It has concluded that services present a number of problems for consumers and also that suggested consumer responses in relafion to goods may not be applicable to services. Specifically that there is a body of knowledge which explains consumer behaviour in relation to goods and that this body of knowledge suggest problems for consumers in choosing and evaluafing services. It also suggests a number of responses to these problems which are again derived from this goods perspecfive. The final considerafion is that the whole argument is being framed within the rafional informafion processing perspective of consumer behaviour. Either consumer problems in relafion to services need to be more fully explored within this framework or research will need to move outside this perspective perhaps towards examining the personal relafionship between provider and consumer such as the degree of empathy or sympathy or explore the alternafive behavioural perspectives. These may provide a means to integrate service design, service encounter and service consumpfion which emerge as crucial to service marketing. This article has endeavoured to concentrate upon consumer behaviour rather than re-iterate the managerial implicafions of service characterisfics which form the basis of a substanfial part of the services literature. It is our contenfion that unless consumer behaviour and in particular consumer responses to the problems associated with service are clarified, service marketing may be in danger of pursu-

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ing provider-orientated solutions to the problems perceived to be faced by consumers rather than truly understanding the nature of consumer decision processes or the reality of consumer behaviour.

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